When Something Smells
by increak96
Summary: Why were they so surprised? They knew better than anyone else... when something smells, it's usually the Butz. Larry-centered, slightly angsty, speculative oneshot I threw together.


He saw the way they looked at him in class. Their condescending eyes with an 'everybody knows you did it' expression. Every time he didn't fail a test, he must have cheated. Every time he picked Miles for his dodge ball team even though he was horrid at it, it must have been for his own benefit. Every time he laughed at someone else's mess up, it couldn't possibly have been the fact that he was a nine-year-old boy from a broken home who didn't know any better.

Because when something smells, it's usually the Butz.

No one was shocked when he dropped out of high school—it was probably expected, come to think of it. It also didn't surprise anyone when he was almost twenty years old and still living with his folks. People were impressed when he began bringing models home, but then he started getting dumped left and right, and the natural balance of the universe was restored. Everyone let out a deep sigh of relief.

Because when something smells, it's usually the Butz.

Phoenix's expression when he heard about the murder accusation was priceless—not that he saw it. Then again, he didn't need to. Those kinds of looks were etched into his memory long ago.

He knew he was innocent, but he wasn't entirely sure why Phoenix of all people thought he was. For some reason, though, Phoenix stood by him until the end and got him an acquittal. He appreciated that, but he didn't pay Phoenix. After all, he didn't have any cash, and why would Phoenix expect payment from him?

Phoenix should have known that when something smells, it's usually the Butz.

He kept on living life, and his friends would listen to his sob stories with a bored, tired, 'will he ever shut up?' expression on their face. He shrugged it off, completely used to it at this point. That look never changed when they spoke to him.

It was ridiculous to think that sometimes he thought of getting two jobs to see if he could hold his own. It was even crazier to believe that more than once he dated a girl who was serious and down-to-earth, only to leave her because next to a hard worker and a straight-A student, he felt like complete trash. The notion that he didn't know how to keep a job because no one ever showed him, and that this frustrated him to tears was the stupidest of all. It was all nonsense.

After all, when something smells, it's usually the Butz.

He wasn't surprised when he heard the guilty verdict. He had robbed a bank to try and make ends meet, and he knew it. Why Phoenix offered to be his attorney, he didn't know. Phoenix hadn't even tried to use the Magatama to see if he was lying, he just instantly assumed it couldn't have been him.

He let them cuff his hands, glancing briefly at his childhood friends as he was pulled from the room.

Miles was standing behind his desk, papers hanging loosely in his hands, jaw on the floor. Phoenix looked even more horrified, and he slumped against the desk, holding a hand to his head, eyes begging the question, 'Did you really do it? Why?'

But he didn't understand. What part of the situation didn't they get? Why were they so dumbfounded? They knew better than anyone that when something smells…

It's always, always, _always… _The Butz.

* * *

**A\N: Yeah, so... basically, I think Miles and Phoenix are horrible friends. Because all they ever do is belittle Larry, and it drives me nuts. The first one or two games it was cute, and then after a while it was like... just stop. It's not funny anymore, it's just mean. Stop.**

**I'm not saying other people's influence on your life in an excuse to make bad choices, but I do know that if you are repeatedly told you are ugly, you will believe it. If you are repeatedly told you are a nuisance, you will believe it. I see Larry as the type of guy who no longer tries because he has been conditioned to believe that 'when something smells, it's always the Butz'.  
**

**Thus, this was born.  
**

**I hope y'all enjoyed it, and please leave a review on your way out!  
**


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